To Marrakesh by train - Part 4: Travelling without flying. The logistics.

So, how to reach Marrakesh without flying? 

I share here the route of our trip. But I have to say that if it were not for the man in the seat 61 (the bible of train traveling) we would not have known about the possibility of reaching Marrakesh by train (with a ferry in between).

We were in Portugal, visiting family for Christmas and New Year's. Usually I buy an Interrail pass which makes it more affordable to travel by train over long distances. (If you are under 28, it is significantly more affordable). But even with the Interrail pass, it is important to reserve seats in advance for high-speed trains.

Our itinerary went through: Netherlands - Portugal - Morocco - Spain - Netherlands. But first a bit of nostalgia.

The Sud Express - made everything easier...

The railway connections between Spain and Portugal are quite bad, worse than they've been since... 1887! That is the year when the "Sud Express" train service was introduced, and it connected Lisbon to Paris via Madrid. Since 1994, it would stop at the border with France - Hendaye, where you could change to the (faster) TGV to Paris. Source: Wikipedia.

I was still lucky to use the Sud Express a couple of times, as a night train between Hendaye and Coimbra, where I would then take a regional train to Porto. But in 2020 with the excuse of COVID-19, Renfe, the Spanish railway operator, discontinued it, unilaterally. Nowadays, even between Madrid and Lisbon you need a day to travel by train, and you have to change twice. See here the instructions from the Man in Seat 61. 

Netherlands to Porto, via Paris and Hendaye

From the Netherlands I take the Eurostar (used to be Thalys) train to Paris. There you need to change stations, from Gare du Nord to Gare de Montparnasse. Usually, I book trains with a gap of a few hours, to prevent stress if a train gets delayed. Having an extra hour in Paris is often quite enjoyable too!

Between Gare du Nord and Montparnasse, I've tried several modes of transportation: 

• the metro - direct, you can even buy metro tickets in the cafeteria of the Eurostar train. The metro ride can be a bit intense, as it is usually very crowded.
• the bus - also direct, it takes longer than the metro but you can sit and see Paris from the surface
• walking - if I'm feeling fresh I walk across Paris and over the river to Gare de Montparnasse. It takes about 1h30 hours
• a combination of the RER (local trains) and walking - it is less intense than taking the metro, less tiring than walking all the way, but still gives me the feeling of walking through Paris.

In Gare de Montparnasse, I take the TGV train to Hendaye (about 5h).

From Hendaye, there is often a direct Flixbus coming from Toulouse/Marseille to Porto. I also need to reserve tickets in advance, it is often full. The bus leaves Hendaye around 22h and arrives in Porto around 7h30. Luckily, it is one hour earlier in Portugal, so it means that I still arrive around 8h30 Dutch time;).

Portugal to Tangier

From Porto to Lisbon we took a 3h train in the evening. The station Lisboa-Oriente is connected to a big bus terminal, where we took the night bus from Alsa to Algeciras. We left from Lisbon at 23h and arrived in Algeciras before 10h. 

Arriving in Algeciras. At the distance you see Gibraltar.

There, you can choose between ferries that cross from Algeciras to the big port of Tangier-Med (50km from the city), or to take a more expensive ferry from Tarifa that crosses directly into Tangier old town. Tarifa is about 30min away from Algeciras but the ferry companies have free shuttle buses to and from the Port of Algeciras. 

On the way to Morocco we took the ferry from Tarifa, and the trip was quite smooth. The passport control is done during the trip inside the ferry, in a police office in the middle of the sitting area. 

View from inside the ferry

Arriving in Tangier, from the ferry from Tarifa, straight into the old town!

Tangier to Marrakesh by train

We stayed a night in Tangier and the next morning we left towards south. 

Train station in Tangier

We booked online in advance  at ONCF, the national railway company of Morocco. If you book Tangier to Marrakesh, you take first a fast train (Al Boraq, a refurbished TGV) to Casablanca (stop Casa Voyagers), and then another train to Marrakesh. The whole trip takes around 5h. 

In Marrakesh we rented a car and drove another 4 hours south across the Atlas mountains, passing through Ouarzazate.

Drive from Marrakesh with a view towards the Atlas

After some days in Agdz, where we visited the oasis of the Draa valley, we drove to the region of Agadir, on the coast, and the views were quite something on that trip. We saw also wide stretches of plantations of the famous argan trees. We made a stop in Taroudant, where we visited the impressive old medina. 

Argan trees and the Atlas, between Agdz and Agadir.

North of Agadir

Travelling back: Marrakesh - Algeciras

After some days by the sea, with its enourmous cliffs and beautiful views, we drove back to Marrakesh. There we returned the car, and had an afternoon and evening to explore the old town and markets, which we really enjoyed! 

Inside the Photography musem in Marrakesh. I was captivated by this picture from Tangier.

On the next day we travelled by train back to Tangier. Leaving Marrakesh at 8h50 and arriving 14h10 in Tangier. The train was delayed in Marrakesh, but in the stopover in Casa-Voyagers the next train was waiting, so it was super smooth!

Once back in Tangier train station we asked around for the bus stop to take the bus to Tangier-Med, the big port. The bus stop was a small walk away from the train station, here. 

While the train station is big and very modern, the connection to the local bus system is very poor. What appears to be a main bus stop, is a bit hidden around a corner, and has no indications except for a sign that says "Alsa" (the operator of the local buses). Lots of people were standing around waiting, but there were no bus stop shelter or benches. There were some improvised rocks where people sat, and the shade of some trees.  (In the meantime, it seems that Alsa does no longer have the concession of buses in Tangier, and it is now served by CTM/Transdev, but unfortunately I could not find any info about schedules online).

The bus arrived, (I3 if I still remember correctly), we said we wanted to go to Tangier-Med, and paid the tickets. The bus was full, and the trip was very beautiful, across the green hills of Tangier, with direct views over the strait. 

View from the bus between Tangier and the big port Tangier-Med

After about one hour by bus, we hear calls from other passengers. The bus driver was telling us that it was our stop. Thanking them, we left the bus, and looked for the passenger entrance to the port. It turned out we just had to cross the road, enter the port area and walk down a small street, with many parked taxis.

Inside the building we saw the schedule of the next ferries, chose the next one, bought the tickets (using the rest of the Moroccan dirhams) and went in line to cross security and passport control. On this trip there were longer waits to board and disembark, security, and passport controls (and we were more tired which makes everything seem to last longer). But the crossing was impressive, at some point the ferry crosses the middle of the strait, and you see the rock of Gibraltar right ahead.

Ferry crossing back to Iberia

Crossing Spain in one day: Algeciras - Madrid - Irún

Back in Algeciras, we had booked a hotel next to the train station, so that we could take the early train on the next morning. It was a very early train. At 5h55am it left Algeciras in direction to Antequera-Santa Ana, where we changed to the train bound to Madrid. In Madrid we remembered we could also use the interrail pass to take a local train between the stations Madrid-Atocha and Madrid-Chamartin, which saved us the trouble of a longer metro ride.

In between trains and stations in Madrid

In Chamartin we had an hour before the next train to Donostia/San Sebastian. The station is under a complete renovation, but there were some cafes, so we we could have lunch. Then, onwards to the next train. Five hours later we reached Donostia, where we waited another 50min for the next local train to Irún. We left at 5h55, and arrived at 21h21. In Irún we were lucky to stay with relatives for 2 nights.

Hendaye - Netherlands 

Irún is just across the border from Hendaye, and there are regular buses between the two cities, which in 10min leave you at Hendaye's train station. There we took the TGV back to Paris, and then the Eurostar back to the Netherlands! 

View from the train, somewhere in France, back to the cold winter

It was very good to take a day of rest in between (and after all the travel days), but we were impressed that it is possible to travel from Marrakesh to the Netherlands in three days! 

Of course land travel is slower than by plane (and with about 4 times less emissions, see my calculations here), but it is also curious to feel that it is possible to connect these apparently distant places by land. And after you do it, they do not seem so far away anymore.